Colossians 3:10 — Renewed Into Recognition

10 and putting on the young [humanity], which is being renewed into recognition, to accord with the Image of the One Who creates it,

The young humanity is not only put on, but also renewed. This is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process. Significantly, Paul does not say that the young humanity renews itself. It is being renewed. The renewal begins with God. Precisely because of this, the human being also begins to think and live differently.

Also striking is the direction of this renewal. Paul does not write: renewed by recognition, but: renewed into recognition. The Greek preposition here is eis (“into”), not dia (“through”). Recognition, then, is not the cause of the renewal, but the goal toward which it leads. Recognition is more than simply knowing. Knowledge can be accumulated, but recognition or realization sinks in. It becomes one’s own and changes the way one looks at God, oneself, and others. All reality comes to stand in a different light.

The word “recognition/realization” occurs repeatedly in Colossians (1:6, 9-10; 2:2). It forms a thread running through Paul’s argument. God makes His truth known so that it may truly be lived. Where that happens, a person does not remain the same. Not because he renews himself, but because God’s truth renews him. In what follows, Paul shows what that renewal ultimately leads to.

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